Local opinions on state minimum wage increase proposal - page A5 www.wallowa.com Enterprise, Oregon April 1, 2015 $1 Bankruptcy sale nets creditors $100K About 500 attended auction to liquidate Dougherty assets; judge issues arrest warrant for missing couple By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain The small-claims credi- tors of Douglas and Katheri- na Dougherty should receive about $100,000 in monetary relief following a U.S. Bank- ruptcy Court-ordered auction held Saturday, March 28, on former Dougherty property along Highway 82 just north- west of Wallowa. About 200 registered bid- ders, plus some online bid- ders, were among a crowd of about 500 people who attend- ed the eight-hour auction or- dered to liquidate the remain- ing assets of the Dougherty couple who have not been located since U.S. Bankrupt- cy Judge Randall L. Dunn, based in Portland, issued a warrant for their arrest March 17. Ordered to appear per- sonally on March 13 to show cause “why a warrant for their arrest should not be issued in light of multiple and manifest failures to comply with vari- ous court orders,” Douglas and Katherina Dougherty did not appear on that day and the arrest warrant was issued shortly thereafter. Jeanne Huffman, contract- ed by the U.S. Department of Justice as a Bankruptcy Trustee for the District of PCM proposes to give parolees A PLACE TO CALL HOME Oregon and the trustee as- signed to the Dougherty case, said, “In 20 years of working with bankruptcies, I’ve never HQFRXQWHUHGDFDVHWKLVGLI¿- cult.” In the words of Doug Ma- con, owner of Macon Broth- ers Auctioneers, of Walla Walla, which joined with Booker Auction Co., of Elto- pia, Wash., to stage the auc- tion, about 650 lots of items were sold in one day after the district bankruptcy court in Portland agreed to jointly administer the assets of three different legal entities. See AUCTION, Page A2 Barreto talks minimum wage, wolves By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Steve Tool/Chieftain PCM, which already has a garden plot and raises chickens and turkeys, would use profits from these activities to help fund the program for parolees. Couple wants transitional house to be ‘transformational’ By Steve Tool W Wallowa County Chieftain allowa County native Neal Isley and his wife, Corrine, of Point of Connection Ministries, hope to soon offer transitional housing to pa- rolees and those on supervised probation in the area. The goal of the program is to help residents of the home adjust to life outside the correctional system by teaching life skills, offering mentoring/counseling and the possibility of employment through acquired job skills. The prospective home is located at the former Wallowa Valley Family Youth Center located at 83346 Joseph High- way, just north of Joseph. The Isleys call it “transformation- al housing” because they hope to transform residents’ lives through the program. See HOME, Page A9 C HIEFTAIN WA L L O WA C O U N T Y Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Volume 132 Issue No. 50 © 2015 EO Media Group Steve Tool/Chieftain Point of Connection founders, from left, Neal and Corrine Isley. The Isleys intend to lend a helping hand to parolees and people on probation in their transition to becoming productive citizens. ENTERPRISE — Oregon District 58 Representative Greg Barreto, Republican, traveled to Enterprise for a town hall meeting on Satur- day, March 28, accompanied by his wife, Chris, and chief of staff, Darry Breeden. Wallowa County commis- sioners Susan Roberts and Mike Hayward also attended the gathering, which was held at Community Connection. Barreto, of Cove, is a freshman representative. He owns hydraulic equipment company Barreto Manufac- turing in La Grande. After introducing himself, Barreto led the meeting with a short prayer before launching into a detailed, but concise, QDUUDWLYH RXWOLQLQJ KLV ¿UVW eight weeks in the Oregon Legislature. He said he ini- tially felt hindered by his lack of legislative experience. “I felt like this was something I wanted to do, something I was called to do. I had the tools, but I didn’t know the job,” Barreto said. He said he worked straight WKURXJK KLV ¿UVW ¿YH ZHHNV only taking time off to attend church, and this intensive routine helped to get his feet beneath him. He sits on three legislative committees: Edu- cation, Agriculture and Natu- ral Resources, and also Busi- ness and Labor. Barreto said he found the lack of time particularly FKDOOHQJLQJ :LWK GD\V ¿OOHG with meetings and sessions, he found early morning and late evening the only time he has to study and understand Ace Hardware plans to move By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain ENTERPRISE — With the arduous SURFHVVRI¿QGLQJDQHZEXVLQHVVVLWHDQG FRRUGLQDWLQJ WKH ¿QDQFLQJ WR SXUFKDVH it now behind them, the three owners of Cameron’s Wallowa County Ace Hardware remain many weeks away from moving out of the rented Enterprise site they’ve occu- pied on NW 2nd Street for 15 years and into their own building a mere two blocks away. Store owners Ray, Patty, and son Nick Cameron just purchased half a city block that long was occupied by Bronson Lumber at the northeast corner of North and River streets. The owners now plan an extensive remodel before relocating an inventory in excess of 50,000 items. 1LFN &DPHURQ ZLWK ¿QDO FRQWUDFW QH- gotiations still pending, declined late last week to name the contractor who will per- form the extensive remodel scheduled to begin this week. That remodel will include knocking down and rebuilding walls and could last as long as six or eight weeks. Ray Cameron explains the reason for the move in simple terms. “We need more room and we want to own our own building,” he says. The current building on NW 2nd Street, co-owned by Don Foster and Tom Cutter, Steve Tool/Chieftain Oregon District 58 Representative Greg Barreto, addressing the audience at his March 28 town hall meeting in Enterprise, makes an emphatic gesture using a card he happens to be holding. the many bills the Legislature votes on. Barreto also spoke of his frustrations as a minority party member in the various committees he belongs to, particularly the Business and Labor Committee. “That’s got to be the most frustrating committee I’ve ever been on. The things that come through there are the antithesis of how I think,” the representative said. The camaraderie of House members, regardless of politi- FDODI¿OLDWLRQSURYHGDSOHDV- ant surprise to him, however. “There isn’t a one in the oth- er party that I couldn’t go up RQWKHLUÀRRUDQGVLWGRZQDW their desk and just start visit- ing,” Barreto said. See BARRETO, Page A9 ADC seeks approval to sell water downstream By Rocky Wilson Wallowa County Chieftain departments. The larger Bronson Lumber building has been purchased from the husband and wife team of Mace and Sherry Cadwell, of Union County. Although still under re- view, a request in early 2014 from Wallowa Lake Dam’s owner, the Associat- ed Ditch Companies, to have 4,200 acre-feet of lake water ÀRZDXJPHQWHGWRDJULFXOWXU- al growers in the Umatilla Ba- sin along the Columbia River has drawn unanimous opposi- tion from the six entities that ¿OHGZULWWHQUHVSRQVHV While much of the dissent registered during the 30-day comment period that ended April 24 last year revolved around the lack of public in- put surrounding the permit request and where the excess water would come from, com- ments from the Wallowa’s Future Foundation and from See MOVE, Page A9 See WATER, Page A10 Rocky Wilson/Chieftain Nick Cameron, right, and father Ray Cameron are two of three owners of the Ace Hardware store in Enterprise that soon will be relocated to the former Bronson Lumber structure two blocks away that Cameron’s Wallowa County Ace Hardware just purchased. includes 4,800 square feet of retail space compared to about 6,000 square feet at the new location. “We will expand our lines of paint, electrical, and plumbing supplies,” says Ray Cameron, who then adds that the additional space will allow Cameron’s Ace Hardware to stock additional items in all